Arsenal legend spells out what Odegaard must do for permanent deal

The Real Madrid loanee has had plenty of game time at Arsenal since his January arrival, but has he done enough to earn a permanent transfer deal?

Martin Odegaard hasn’t done enough to earn a permanent Arsenal deal yet, says Nigel Winterburn, who wants to see the midfielder be more involved in games and creating more opportunities for his teammates.

After struggling for regular opportunities at Real Madrid this season, Odegaard joined Arsenal on loan in January. He has since shown flashes of his best form amid a run of regular opportunities under manager Mikel Arteta.

But the 22-year-old hasn’t supplied a goal or assist in his six appearances so far and drew another blank in the 1-1 draw with Burnley last weekend.

“At the moment, no he hasn’t,” former Gunners left-back Winterburn told Stadium Astro on if Odegaard has done enough to earn a permanent deal.

“Ian Wright was saying he reminds him of [Paul] Gascoigne, he doesn’t remind me of Gascoigne.

“For a young-ish player who hasn’t played a lot of football to come into your club, I think at the moment I’m sitting on the fence, but I see the potential there.

“His link-up play is very good, he wants to get on the ball, he’s a good passer.

“But if I’m looking at creative midfield players, I’m always looking for a bit more. I want to see a creative midfield player who is capable of scoring goals and I want to see them setting up chances or being involved in the chances created of the team.

“At the moment, I’m sitting there thinking he hasn’t done anything wrong and I want to judge and I want to see a lot more from him before I make the decision would I like Arsenal to try and sign him on a permanent basis.

“What I want to see from Odegaard is him getting on the ball all the time, trying to play through the tricky passes that will set up Aubamayeng and Saka or the final pass that goes out to a wide area is whipping the ball in for an opportunity for one of our other players to score.”